Beautiful Oblivion (The Maddox Brothers, #1)(43)

“Trav, I think you’ve had enough already,” I said. He was too drunk to realize that he already had one.

“Cami, just f*cking do it.”

I grabbed the glass bottle not six inches away, and placed it directly in his line of sight.

“Oh,” he said.

“Yeah. Like I said. You’ve had plenty to drink in the short time you’ve been here.”

“There’s not enough liquor in the world that could make me forget what she said tonight.” His words were slurring. Shit.

“What exactly did she say?” I asked.

“She said I wasn’t good enough. I mean . . . in a roundabout way, but that’s what she f*cking meant. She thinks I’m a piece of shit, and I . . . I think I’m falling for her. I don’t know. I can’t think straight anymore. But when I got her home after the fight, and I knew she was there for a month”—he rubbed the back of his neck—“I think that’s the happiest I’ve ever been, Cami.”

My brows pulled together. I’d never seen him so distraught. “She’s staying with you for a month?”

“We made a bet tonight. If I didn’t get hit, she had to move in for a month.”

“That was your idea?” I asked. Damn. He was already in love with this girl and didn’t even know it.

“Yeah. I thought I was a f*cking genius up until an hour ago.” He tilted the glass. “Another.”

“Nope. Drink your damn beer,” I said, pushing it toward him.

“I know I don’t deserve her. She’s”—his eyes lost focus—“incredible. There’s something in her eyes that’s familiar. Something I can relate to, ya know?”

I nodded. I knew exactly what he meant. I felt that way about a pair of eyes that looked a lot like his.

“So maybe you should talk to her about it,” I said. “Don’t have one of those stupid misunderstandings.”

“She’s got a date tomorrow night. With Parker Hayes.”

My nose wrinkled. “Parker Hayes? Haven’t you warned her about him?”

“She wouldn’t believe me. She’d just think I was saying that because I’m jealous.”

He was swaying in his chair. I was going to have to call him a cab.

“Aren’t you? Jealous?”

“Yeah, but he’s also a shit stick.”

“True.”

Travis tilted his beer bottle and took a big swig. His eyelids were heavy. He wasn’t pacing himself at all.

“Trav . . .”

“Not tonight, Cami. I just want to get drunk.”

I nodded. “Looks like you’ve accomplished that. Want me to call a cab?”

He shook his head slightly.

“Fine, but find a ride home.” He tried to take another swig of his beer, but I held onto the neck of the bottle until he made eye contact. “I mean it.”

“I heard you.”

I let go, and then watched him finish off the bottle.

“Trent was talking about you the other day,” he said.

“Oh yeah?”

“I’m going to get her a puppy,” Travis said. At least he was too drunk to stay on the subject of Trenton. “Think Trent will keep him for me?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“Aren’t you guys attached at the hip these days?”

“Not really.”

Travis’s face compressed. “This is awful,” he said, his words melding together. “Who f*cking wants to feel like this? Who would purposefully do this to themselves?”

“Shepley,” I said with a smile.

He raised both eyebrows. “You ain’t f*ckin’ kiddin’.” After a short pause, his face fell. “What do I do, Cami? Tell me what to do, because I don’t f*ckin’ know.”

I shook my head. “You’re sure she doesn’t want you?”

Travis looked up at me with sad eyes. “That’s what she said.”

I shrugged. “Then you try to forget about her.”

Travis looked down at his empty bottle. The two girls from State who Trenton had left behind the night before began buying Travis drinks, and before long, he could barely stay on his stool. For the next hour and a half, he’d fully committed to finding the bottom of every bottle he could get his hands on.

The Southern State sisters took a stool on each side of Travis. I walked away, tending to my regulars for a while. I wouldn’t be surprised if they thought he was Trenton. The youngest four Maddox boys looked so much alike, and Travis was wearing a white T-shirt that looked a lot like what Trenton had been wearing.

From the corner of my eye, I saw one of the girls drape her leg over Travis’s thigh. The other turned his face, and then they were sucking face in a way that made me feel like a pervert for watching.

“Uh, Travis?” I said.

He stood up and threw a one-hundred-dollar bill on the bar. He held his finger up to his lips, and then winked. “This is me. Forgetting.”

The girls walked on each side of him, and he leaned on them, barely able to walk.

“Travis! They better be your ride home!” I yelled.

He didn’t acknowledge me.

Raegan laughed. “Oh, Travis,” she said. “He’s certainly entertaining.”